The US and NATO are now openly provoking Russia.

The US and NATO are now openly provoking Russia

Prelude to World War III?

Stes de Necker

The tense situation in Ukraine has sparked a new Cold War, and the United States are directly responsible for it. As if this isn't enough, NATO is now provoking Russia with financial sanctions and a military build-up within the striking distance of its homeland, risking a conflict that could easily escalate into a third world war.

It all started when the US Government designed and sponsored a 'coup d’etat' in Ukraine (disguised as a “people’s revolution“), and installed a Neo-Nazi type government, against the will of the people.

Ukraine is a prized target, for two strategic reasons:  

1. It is one of Russia’s neighboring countries;
2. Russia’s gas pipe to Europe traverses Ukraine (see map bellow);

Russia’s ‘Gazprom’ is responsible for delivering 1/3 of Europe’s gas and has exported an estimated $67 billion worth of gas in 2013, which makes it one of the most profitable companies on Earth.

The US hoped to absorb the second largest former Soviet Republic into NATO and even invested a whopping $5 billion in this dirty business.

To understand what’s really happening in Ukraine, one must follow the money — or, in this case,

the gas pipe:

“The same countries [NATO members] that dropped 23,000 bombs and missiles on Yugoslavia in 1999 demanding that Kosovo be separated from Serbia and Yugoslavia — and also invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and bombed Libya in 2011 — are now crying about Russia’s flagrant ‘violation’ of Ukraine’s sovereignty by virtue of encouraging and supporting the Crimean referendum.

“The same militarists who criminally invaded and bombed sovereign Iraq or cheered while Iraq was divided and left bleeding from the assault, are now crying about respect for sovereignty in Ukraine. Working class and progressive people should treat their feigned loyalty to the cause of national sovereignty with complete contempt.” — Brian Becker, Global Research

The Russian Foreign Ministry accused NATO of attacking Russia with propaganda.

“By trying to make Russia the culprit in the current Ukrainian crisis, NATO has outperformed its own propaganda efforts from the aggressive time against Yugoslavia,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“After the end of the Cold War our country was taking consecutive steps to discharge the military tension in the Euro-Atlantic region and to cut conventional weapons in Europe. Russia also took the former USSR’s obligations and withdrew its troops from East European and the Baltic countries. We also fully honored the treaty on liquidating medium- and short-range missiles,” the statement reads.

The truth behind Crimea

The Russian intervention in Crimea is more than justified in the current context, in which the US and NATO have overthrown Ukraine’s legitimate government and replaced it with a new government.

Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, accused the West of “an anti-constitutional takeover [and] armed seizure of power [in Ukraine]” in a press conference back in March, and added: 

“I think this was a well-prepared action. Of course there were combat detachments. They are still there, and we all saw how efficiently they worked. Their Western instructors tried hard, of course.”

A couple of weeks later, in a following press conference, Vladimir Putin added: 

“In the hearts and minds of people, Crimea has always been and remains an inseparable part of Russia,” said Putin, who added that ethnic Russians had found themselves isolated from the motherland when the Soviet Union collapsed, both in Crimea and elsewhere.

“Millions of Russians went to sleep in one country and woke up living abroad, as a national minority in former republics of the union. The Russian people became one of the biggest, if not the biggest, split-up nation in the world.”

Former German Chancellor, Helmut Schmidt, wrote in “Die Zeit” newspaper that President Vladimir Putin’s approach to the Crimean issue is “completely understandable,” and added that the sanctions employed by the EU and the US against Russia are “a stupid idea.”

But the US main stream media, is misleading everyone into believing that Russia’s actions, in its own back yard, is an attack on democracy. What they are intentionally failing to report is that: 

“The majority population in Crimea speaks Russian, identifies with Russia and was formally a part of Russia until the region was transferred to Ukraine as a largely administrative measure in 1954.

“The people of Crimea have voted in overwhelming numbers and by an overwhelming margin to leave Ukraine and to federate with Russia.” – [Global Research]

Russia’s Black Sea Fleet 

Leaving aside the US-NATO coup in Ukraine, the Russian gas pipe traversing it, and the pro-Russian population of Crimea, Russia has one more stake in the Crimean Peninsula: Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is based in Sevastopol. It is understandable that Russia could never allow NATO to control its fleet!

“I do not want to be welcomed in Sevastopol by NATO sailors,” Vladimir Putin emphasized.

Putin ordered the troops back home and made it clear for all:

“Don’t believe those who try to frighten you with Russia and who scream that other regions will follow after Crimea. We do not want a partition of Ukraine. We do not need this.”

In the past month, the United States of America and NATO have continuously brought more troops close to Russia, pretending to respond to the tense situation in Ukraine.

But, as evidence shows, they are the ones who orchestrated the “tense situation” in the first place, and massing armies all around Russia is what’s maintaining the situation tense.

The US and NATO have more than 1,000 military bases across the world, mainly surrounding Russia and China

And the following map shows the US anti-missile shields placed around Russia:

If this was not enough, the US and NATO are ostentatiously moving troops closer and closer to Russia, asking for public support in what could very well be the beginning of World War 3

1. US Navy destroyers USS Truxtun and Donald Cook are now conducting joint military exercises with two of their allies, Romania and Bulgaria, in Russia’s backyard and relatively close to its territorial waters.

“What we are seeing is that for the first time since 2008, NATO is creating a naval battle group outside the Russian borders,” a source told Interfax news agency, citing the Russian Defense Ministry.

2. The US dispatched some 600 troops to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia for military exercises.

3. Poland, one of Ukraine’s neighboring countries, has allegedly asked for the deployment of 10,000 US troops on their territory. There are already 100-150 US troops deployed in Poland.
NATO’s top military commander, Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, said in a recent interview that one of the options the alliance has on the table is to move a 4,500-member combat brigade from Fort Hood, Texas, to Europe.

4. Six CF-18s fighter jets and hundreds of Canadian Forces personnel have already been dispatched to Romania, strengthening NATO’s forces in Eastern Europe.

“We are sending out a message to Russia and we are reassuring our allies that we are taking steps and making a point consistent with what NATO has been saying, the actions so far are unacceptable by Russia and we are sending out a very clear message,” Defence Minister Rob Nicholson told CBC News.

5. Another worrying factor is the fact that Romania (NATO member and one of Ukraine’s neighbors) has officially released the medical form required when enlisting for military service during a state of war.

Also, Romania’s president, Traian Basescu, has recently stated that many of Romania’s reserve soldiers are working abroad and they will be called to serve, if necessary.

Romania’s Prime Minister, Victor Ponta, has recently labelled the situation in Ukraine as “extremely serious and getting worse by the day.” Mr. Ponta added that this state of events is “the biggest security challenge for Romania, in the past 20 years.”

6. Romania has also confirmed the acquisition of a dozen F-16 fighter jets, fitted with weapons and equipment, for an estimated $457 million. The jets will be purchased from the US, through a third party transfer from Portugal.

In the meanwhile, the US and NATO have financially sanctioned Russia, threatened it on every occasion and have dispatched troops, fighter jets, navy destroyers and heavy weaponry to its doorsteps, from half way across the world.